


We're In This Together Now

by simonsaidfred



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 07:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10759467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simonsaidfred/pseuds/simonsaidfred
Summary: Otacon works to fix the Kasatka as hard as he works to not be jealous of Snake's previous relationship. Set during the Big Shell.





	We're In This Together Now

“Man, that Raiden guy sure is gullible. I’m sure those computer games he played to become Solid Snake had at least one picture of the guy.”   
This was how the legendary soldier made his presence known to his partner, setting his AK down against the Kasatka, unceremoniously taking his headset off and tossing it down next to the gun.   
“I mean, I almost slipped when telling him my name –”  
“Lieutenant Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, excellent save,” the smaller man replied, his back still turned to the soldier.   
“He was looking right at me, with this knowing look in his eyes… He even gave me a shaver.”  
Hal Emmerich, scientist, anime enthusiast, and “Iroquois Pliskin”’s partner, turned at the mention of a shaver, his bespectacled eyes widening as they fell to Solid Snake’s face.   
“Holy – you shaved!”  
Snake muttered wordlessly.   
“Still rocking that mullet, tho–”  
Upon the word “mullet” leaving his mouth, Snake threw a rubber duck at Otacon’s face, knocking his glasses to the floor.   
“Hey! Where’d you get a duck?”  
“I found it while swimming around Shell 2. Anyway, I told you to leave the hair alone. Business in the front –”  
“– a party in the back, I know,” Otacon complained, picking his glasses up from the floor, examining them and wiping them gingerly on the edge of his shirt. “Add the bandana, and you’d fit right in… in 1984.”  
“Yeah, I can’t wait to put this bad boy back on,” he said, pulling a strip of fabric from one of his vest’s many pockets. Otacon watched as the fabric kept coming, like one of those neverending scarves magicians use.   
“Meryl’s bandana?”  
“No, Otacon. It’s my bandana. I wear it.”  
“Well, I mean, you got it from Meryl.”  
“And?”  
Otacon fell silent, turning back to his work. He really didn’t mean to bring her up now, of all times.   
“You know I’m not sentimental, Otacon. It’s not because it’s from her. It’s because this bandana provides me with infinite ammo…”  
“…And because it makes you look badass, I know,” Otacon said, finishing Snake’s sentence. Snake opened his mouth to retort as his Codec rang. He caught Otacon’s eyes pointedly and then turned away, raising his hand to his throat.  
Otacon wasn’t jealous of Meryl, or of what she and Snake had shared together. Snake never talked about it, the same way he never talked about his past, the same way he never talked about anything. That’s the part that bothered the scientist the most - the lack of narrative. The brain tends to create a story where there is none. Was it infidelity? Was it location? Age? What went wrong?   
Snake’s voice broke the scientist from his reverie. “Raiden is almost to Emma’s location. He told me he found Stillman’s body.” Snake shuddered slightly at the thought.  
“Great,” Otacon forced a smile. “I’m almost done with the repairs. Just a couple more screws…”  
He smiled quietly to himself when Snake chuckled, presumably at “screws.”  
“Listen, Otacon… Meryl left me in Alaska. She told me that the Colonel helped get her back into the military, and she never could stand the cold anyway. But, truthfully…” he trailed off, gazing mournfully into the distance. It was a look the scientist was accustomed to - it usually meant the legendary Solid Snake was about to become a Solid Clam. He stood and Snake turned to face him, the foggy distance in his gaze crystalized.   
“Truthfully, things weren’t going well. That we fell in love at Shadow Moses is a great concept for a love story. But she loved the legend of Solid Snake, and couldn’t take the day to day reality of David seriously.”  
“Snake…” Hal said reassuringly with nothing to follow, merely hoping Snake would continue.   
“I remembered the question you had asked me - ‘Do you think that love can bloom, even on the battlefield?’ I think that it can, and I think that it did, but not with Meryl. I couldn’t stop thinking of you, wondering what happened… Once Meryl left, I found you. You took me in, we started Philanthropy, and here we are.”  
Hal moved to close the distance between himself and David.   
“You are my partner, Otacon. In all senses of the word.”  
“Snake… Y-you never talk about yourself like this.”   
“Yeah, I know. I’m good at killing, not being emotionally honest.”   
“And other things…” Hal teased, rubbing a circular pattern on Snake’s forearm with his fingertip.   
David gripped Hal by the shoulders, bringing their lips together. Hal wrapped his arms around David’s neck, bringing their torsos together.   
David’s Codec rang again and he grumbled into the kiss. “Hold that thought.”   
Otacon stared at Snake while he talked with Raiden again. His piercing green eyes, a halo of eyelashes, the twin peaks of his eyebrows…   
“Raiden has reached Emma. She’s been injected with something that made her unable to walk. He’s going to help her swim thru Shell 2.”  
“What? No, E.E. hates water…”  
“Otacon.” Snake’s hands fell heavily onto the smaller man’s shoulders. “She’ll get thru this. Raiden will help her. And I’m gonna help him. Help her. For you.”  
“Snake… Thank you.” He turned back to the Kasatka to finish the repairs.   
“You and me… We’re in this together now.” With that, Snake disappeared down the ladder, singing softly.   
“What a thrill…” 


End file.
